The news has been chock-full of interesting, out-of-the-ordinary stories of late. Here are three that caught my attention:

How much do you know about Afghanistan and its history? Thanks to a friend posting this story on Facebook, I learned a lot about how surprisingly modern Afghanistan was in the 1950s and ’60s, before Soviet and U.S. involvement changed the country’s cultural landscape forever, by way of the Taliban. This is a fascinating piece, and the comments are even worth looking at, as well.

Sara Ganim, only 24, won a Pulitzer prize this week for her work in breaking the news of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal at Penn State University. To see such a young person make such a huge contribution to journalism gives me hope. Maybe good, old-fashioned reporting is still alive and well!

And just to get your dander up, here’s a story out of Indianapolis reporting that a woman has become the first female Catholic priest in Indiana. Uh, yeah. See what you think about this one.